… asked to vote for Steve Fulop using different names at several different polling places when he ran for councilman …

owns a store 1n the diamond district possibly named the Exchange which was located on 47th
St. possiblYca betw,een ~th an~ 6th 5t. i~ New York City. Mr. Cortez stated that Abe lives in
~rooklYn an he ~escrlbes h1m as a Jewlsh male who wears a Yamlka and is approx. 5 ft 9
1nches tall land 15 between 50 and 55 yearsi of age. Mr. cortez stated that he met Abe when
he was arou~d 1 year~ of age and.he start~d out as a personal driver for Abe until Abe
taught h,’m lrnow FO encode the cred,t cards. Mr. Cortez stated that he would get blank
credit card frpm either Abe or another pe’rson who he knows as Iris who picks up the blank
cards from bes personal driver who he knows as vinny. Mr. Cortez went on to describe a female who he knows as Iris by stating
that she is the second person who is used ~n making the fraudulent cards. Mr. cortez stated
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that Iris h s e~~ipment to put the printing on the front of the credit cards. He believes
t~is machine is called an Eltron machine and he knows ~ris to also make phony Drivers
L,censes fo~ se~eral different states USi~ this machine. Iris is described as an hispanic:
f~male ap’pr,x. 50 years old with brown hair and she lives in an older White house on the
r1ght si~e of S~evens Ave. off of Ocean av. in Jersey c:ity with her children. Iris is
known to drIve an older mOdel black maxim . Mr. Cortez stated that ~ third person was used to make the front side of
the credit ard~ and he would later rememler the name of this person when being interviewed
by the detetti,~es from the prosecutors of ice. Mr. Cortez went on to further describe how
after the credit cards were finished he w uld deliver them to people he called workers who
he would me~t ~n the street and sometimes at the Dunkin donuts on Griffith St. and central
Ave. Mr. Corte~ stated that these workers would’use the cards to bu¥ numerous types of
items rangit 1rom gift cards at SUpermar ets to expensive electron,cs and Relex watches.
The items w’re then taken to Abe and he wduld give the workers 18% of the retail value of
the items. ‘
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Mr. Cortez further stat~d that one of the skimmer’s recovered at his
apartment h 0 be delivered on 4/13/08 to a person who he knows as carlos who works at a
shell gas s~’ation on the Eastbound side of Route 3 in Secaucus. Nj. Mr. cortez stated that
he has neve m t carlos but he was going to contact him with a number whic:h was in his cell
phone. Mr. or ez stated that he would usually leave the skimmer for two weeks at a
location befor retrieVing it and obtaining the stolen numbers. Mr. cortez informed us that
they only u~ed Visa and Mastercard numbers with the skimmer because they could not be
traced as e~sy as American Express cards. Mr. Cortez further stated that he would not use
the skimmer ag in at the same location for at least two weeks.
, Mr. COrtez informed the uls that when business was busy he sometimes made
300 to 400 hun red credit cards daily. He stated that he was now making up to 100 cards two
or three times a week. Mr. cortez stated that he would be paid 5 dollars a card by Abe
Berger. After Mr Cortez explained his role in the making of the fraudulent credit
cards he infor ad the u/s and Detective Armstrong that he had told the arresting officers
that he wa~ in olved in some kind of voting fraud in Jersey city and he would also like to
speak about th t during the interview. Mr. cortez started by stating that he and at least
six males were asked to vote for Steve Fulop using different names at several different
polling places when he ran for councilman 2 or three years ago. Mr. Cortez stated that he
was askea ijy h·s long tim$ friend Luis Torres. Mr. cortez stated that on the day of the
election hilmse f and the following peop1e were picked up in a white van and given a list of
names to use tp vote for Steve Fulop as they were driven to various polling places in the
downtown a~ea. Mr. cortez stated that he personally voted using eight different names. The
names of t~e m~les he was able to remember who also voted under different names were Luis
TorreS I charlie Torres, Joseph Romeo, Eddie Torres and Victor Reyes. Mr. cortez better
clarif,ed the ~~es of these individuals ‘during the tap’ed audio statement with the
detectiveslof ~he Prosector’s office. Mr, Cortez state~ that these individuals were given a
1 000 dollar check that was given to Luis Torres who cashed the checks in his wife’s bank
a~count an~ the individuals ~ere given ~he cash by Luis Torres. Mr. Cortez stated th~t
these checks_~ere given to LU,S b¥ Charl,e and Tom who both worked for the Fulop’ campa’gn.
Mr. cortezialSo stated that charl,e would go to the polling places to help out in case any
of the ind vicuals would be challenged from voting.
, Mr. Cortez additionally added that if he could talk with someone from the
n~rcotics qUid he had information involving some drug locations in the Newark and Jersey
c, ty areas f , •
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North.Detective cOTmander Lt. sprague did respond to the North D,strlc~
and did contact the ch,ef of Detect,ves at the Hudson county prosecutor~ off,ce. Detect,ve
Vincent Bopaccolta did respond to the north district. U/s Detective,along wit~ PO J~nes did
have N303 tr~sport Mr. Cortez to the Hudson County prosecutors off,ce to.be ,nterv1ewe9 by
Oet. Bona~l a and Detective Michael Signorile from the prosecutors speclal Investlgatl0ns
74A. Type Ihe Renk, ~ml! an Badge # of R~port.lng otfleer(e) 175A. ,70A. Foegill !’fA. D~le 01 F!.epoft I’M. TRI,I DAU 1,0.
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